What type of steel

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spudnut

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I want to make some small fire strikers,about 1 to 1 and a half inches long.What type of steel stock do I need to buy,Will the square steel stock you can buy at Builders square or Lowes work?.I don't want to use old files as my tool supply is severly lacking and I would realy have to work it down to use it.
 
The steel you will find at Lowes is low carbon. Won't spark. Go here. They have 1095 steel square key stock in, I believe, 12" lengths, at a reasonable price. 1095 cannot be beat for sparks. It is used by Jim Chambers and many others for frizzens.
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRHM
 
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Any chance you can get your hands on some old hay rake tines? They are about 3/8" thick and look like great big circular hoops. I found quite a few at the salvage yard in town but then again I live in "farm country." They make great flint strikers.
 
I'll mail you some small harrow tine pieces if your interested in some cheap stuff. It's the only kind i have ever used. The ones that don't spark well are the ones i didn't harden correctly. PT me your address if interested.

Kevin

DSC00762.jpg
 
Spud: Please don't make any flint striker that SHORT! It makes them Impossible to hold, and control, and increases dramatically the opportunities to slice your knuckles and fingers with that sharp flint. Make them no less than 4 inches long. I make them longer than that, because I have wide hands. :hatsoff:

I spent a long weekend demonstrating flint and steel fire starting for my gun club, starting hundreds of fires. I learned the deficiencies of poorly thought out strikers designs the hard way.

Remember when visiting museums that have fire strikers as "artifacts", in their collect, that People are a LOT Taller, and Bigger today than they were 200 years ago.

With some of the loop strikers I have seen, I would be lucky to get 2 of my fingers inside the loop, leaving the other two exposed to that flint to cut. Kids, with smaller hands than mine, have little problem holding my larger strikers- no more than their weak wrists cause them problems holding and controlling any size striker.

When I teach kids to start a fire with flint and steel, I have them rest the bottom of the striker on a log or solid surface, with the charred cloth at the base of the striker. Then they make an angled blow with the flint on the face of the striker to cut steel and throw sparks into the cloth.

The last thing you want kids to experience is cuts to their fingers, and hands doing this. That not only makes the kid injured afraid of this activity, but intimidates all the rest of the kids from trying to learn how to do this. :hmm:
 
Old files or even new files (Nickolson or Simmons ). Will most likely be cheaper than ordering a good high carbon steel and paying the shipping. If you are in an area with small machine shops just ask them for any old files. You may get a real bargin.
 
He said he doesn't have much in the way of tools. File steel is great for strikers, but in his case square stock would be easier for him to work with. I would have to believe a good machine shop would have the hi-carb key stock.
 
Go by a flea market or swap meet. Someone always has old files you can get for less than a dollar. I usually find 3 or 4 every time I go, and usually find half an antler rack for less than 5 bucks.

Can't ask for more than that.
 
Hey guys. Read his post. He doesn't have the tools to work with old files. Yes, they are great, if you have the means to work them. :v :)
 
If you have the tools to shape and harden any steel, you have the tools to use old files! Once you throw them into a fire and let the fire burn out they are annealed as soft or softer than any other steel. Just throw them into a red hot bed of coals, let them get red hot and then just let the fire burn out. I use my wood stove in the shop to anneal many , many files.
 
I just left a local Fastenal store. If you have one near you they have the
key stock for about $4.00 for a three foot lenght. They have it in a lot of different sizes.
 
Most "key stock " that I have used is not high carbon. They are soft steel made so that the keys will shear rather than shatter . Keys are often an interference fit and the keys are intended to be soft. While most shafts are hardened. It is far easier to replace a key than a shaft, or gear/pully.
 
If the key stock is not specified to be high carbon, it probably isn't. ENCO has key stock in mild steel, high carbon (1095), stainless, and brass. 3/16" 1095 is $16.34 for five 12" pieces.
 
That is correct. Most key stock is mild steel, so if the stress is enough to shear the key it will do so & not damage the shaft or hub it is driving. Hardened key stock is avail., but not usually something one would stock for every day use. If it is hardened, it will usually state the steel type or say it is hardened tool steel.
:thumbsup:
 
If you want or need to put more carbon into your steel this works most times,heat the steel red hot then coat the steel with raw sugar and keep heating until the sugar is burnt away ,then quench the steel, do this outside.
 

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